Between the lines of us and them: Identity threat, anxious uncertainty, and reactive ingroup affirmation: How can antisocial outcomes be prevented?

Social identification provides individuals with a sense of identity by fostering their underlying motives for self-esteem, belonging, epistemic equilibrium, and control. In the current chapter, we review findings showing that threat to these motives on both the personal and the collective level of the self leads to an unpleasant stadium of anxious uncertainty which may be soothed by strengthened belief in one’s ingroup. Affirming one’s group identity in the face of threat allows individuals to perceive themselves as positive, stable, agentic, and socially connected, and helps them to re-establish approach motivation on a neural level. Research has shown that such reactive ingroup affirmation is often accompanied by antisocial responses such as prejudice and hostility against outgroup members. Thus, we examine dispositional and situational moderators that may help to prevent hostile responses, and instead foster socially constructive coping strategies. Finally, we discuss the results with regard to the ongoing European refugee crisis.